Many times people say the house they were living in earlier was a lot ‘healthier’ than the present one! Is it really possible for some houses to be more healthy than the others? Why are some houses healthy while others are not?

The basic requirement of any house is to keep us warm in winter and cool in summer. If the house fails in this basic requirement, then even the most beautiful and expensive new house will not promote health and well-being of its inhabitants. Houses that are shivering cold in winter and fretfully hot and humid in summer are not healthy.

Fresh air bonanza

Apart from this, to promote health and well-being, there should be entry of fresh air in winter without causing cold, dry and dusty drafts of wind. Similarly in summer, we should be able to get cool breeze inside our houses without hot sunlight entering! Houses should be able to add and retain heat and humidity when the weather is cold and dry. When the weather is hot and humid, cross and through ventilation should be adequate to carry outside excess heat and humidity from inside the house.

Houses that are ill ventilated, cold and drafty, with high humidity which makes the house smell of mold, are also not healthy. In some houses fungus growth is seen on walls and roof in rainy season! If there is no feeling of freshness due to lack of ventilation and high humidity, the inhabitants are sure to feel irritated. High humidity encourages fungus growth, which may cause allergies in some persons.

Changing weather conditions have a definite effect on the human body. In cold weather the extra pressure on the body is to keep itself warm. Cold weather is usually coupled with low humidity and dust. The lungs are also under strain to heat up, clean and humidify the inhaled air so that the smallest of the alveoli, in which gaseous exchange takes place, is not unnecessarily strained. If the body fails to maintain its normal temperature in extremes of cold weather conditions, it may even result in death.

Summer trouble

In some houses, the heat of the summer season makes one uncomfortable and there is much sweating and in the night, one does not get good quality sleep, which affects the body and mind. We cannot concentrate and do any work properly in hot and humid atmosphere. Infants and elders fret and fume, unable to bear the discomfort of the summer heat. Many deaths are reported every year in extreme heat wave condition, when the body is unable to maintain its normal temperature. Human body is quite resilient, it can sweat to reduce body temperature.

Similarly when we face sudden change in temperature, like when we come out from the warmth of the house to the outside, the body shivers few times as an emergency measure to generate heat. Once the shock is over, it increases heat production and maintains body temperature. There is a limit to which we can push the body. Our body may be able to take extremes of weather conditions for a short time, and minor variations over longer periods of time.

But if the body has to overwork for longer periods of time, then it starts complaining. It may not be able to work as efficiently in the microclimate inside our houses if the variations are not within its comfort range. Wide variations above and below the comfort level are not good for the human body.

Lungs complain

Living in houses where people are forced to use electric heaters in winter without addition of moisture, results in lower relative humidity which leads to problems like dry coughs. Another problem with room heaters is that we tend to close the windows to make it easy for heater to warm the interior faster. This leads to lack of fresh air inside the house. Low relative humidity will also cause drying of skin and puts extra strain on the lungs to suitably humidify the inhaled air. Lungs under strain ‘complain’ in the form of dry coughs and this may also cause asthma like attacks in some persons.

In some houses, the dependence on ceiling fans is maximum. Fans churn out the same stale air inside such houses, apart from raking up floor dust! Dust is not good for the lungs and upper respiratory system. Some persons get sneezes the moment fans are switched on in such houses. Air coolers are mostly based on evaporative cooling effect of water, this adds additional humidity in summer months when the humidity is already high!

During winter months in India, a lot of dust tends to enter and settle inside houses that allow cold winds to enter. This dust settles on walls and at places that are difficult to clean. When the fan is used after a long gap in summer, it tends to rake it all up and it is usual to have a bout of sneezes in such houses!

New house

It is easy to incorporate suitable features which will make houses warm and comfortable in winter, and cool and breezy in summer while planning for a new house. Human body is resilient, it does fight back — but don’t strain it!

With the human body constantly fighting against odds and mostly succeeding in it, it is our duty to help the body by providing shelter that assures variations within comfort range for it to work efficiently. When it encounters adverse conditions, it struggles to correct them and this process puts a strain on it. The stress and strain of living in an unhealthy house is enormous. It is in our interest to make the house as comfortable and healthy as possible for the human body so that it can work efficiently and give us many years of useful service..

The author is an architect and can be contact: 9844132826 or e mail: architectjayaram@ayahoo.co.in